


Squish

by Kris



Category: Firefly
Genre: Character Death, Community: zombie_fest, Gen, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-23
Updated: 2008-04-23
Packaged: 2017-10-12 10:17:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/123827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kris/pseuds/Kris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zombie comment fic for Zombie_fest on livejournal</p>
            </blockquote>





	Squish

**Author's Note:**

> Heed the warnings, Zombie Fic, Major Character Deaths

Five Weeks Ago

Shuh-Shuh isn't a planet they've ever frequented. Call him old fashioned or downright superstitious but naming your outer rim planet Death, when you're that close to Reaver territory and that far from proper supply lines, it's never seemed like a good idea. Zoe had laughed, a hollow and empty sound when she'd heard of their destination. Shuh-Shuh, refuge for those who're running out of fuel, falling over themselves with their injuries and hiding from the Alliance.

It's the only decision though, even if it doesn't make it right, and one the entire crew finds both ironic and sound. They'll make planetfall on Shuh-Shuh, they have cargo (foodstuffs, seeds) that people will pay for. The pay should be good enough to set them up with a property outside the main settlement. Far enough outside the reach of the Alliance for their comfort and far enough from the left over Reavers (the ones that slipped through the Alliance net are all going to the centre of the 'verse, hitting up core planets). They'll lay low for a month, do odd jobs, get more fuel and when the mutterings on the Cortex die down, they'll head back into the black.

"'Sides," Mal says when Zoe looks at him with that unwavering stare that sees right through him. "Not like the crew couldn't use the break, rest up, heal."

"Absolutely Captain," she says. He feels like she's judging him. Hell, she probably is.

When they land he ignores River's ominous mutterings.

"Dead don't stay quiet here," she says and glares at him even as he opens the airlock.

"Yeah, well, so long as they just lie down when they're done." He replies. 

The main settlement is a damned ghost town, there's movement in the buildings for sure, but not a soul around. They find a house, abandoned a good ten minutes walk outside the town, talk of staying in the town makes River jumpy and they're all, even Jayne, in favour of anything that doesn't make River jumpy.

Jayne checks out the house, Kaylee checks out the power grid, Mal checks out the farm out back there's plenty of food growing and he fingers a corn stalk contemplatively but corn's no good if it's rotten, the disease is spread halfway up the stocks, the rest of the harvest looking much the same. River and Simon make their way to his side. Girl's got a torch in her hand from somewhere.

"It's in the dirt, and the grass and the wells," River says. "It’s in the earth."

"Burn it?" Mal asks.

"Burn it," River says and drops her flaming stick to the dry fluff at the base of the corn.

Four Weeks Ago

"Shouldn't talk to strangers," River says, her voice is quiet and oddly light in relation to the stiff expression on her face, the way she has her hand clamped so hard over Kaylee's mouth to keep the girl's joyful greeting in. It gives the other's pause.

There's a haunted hungry look on the face of the first man they see. He shuffles with an off-kilter gait, looks like he's about to fall over where he stands. They watch, Jayne and Zoe with their guns drawn. Simon looks to be fetching up his last meal when the man finally makes it past them. He's dirty, smells like the worst sort of smell anyone can think of, there's a hole the size of a fist running right through his chest to the other side.

Three Weeks Ago

"We're running low on water," Simon says. Mal eyes him in concern and looks at River who shakes her head. He doesn't know when or why he started to rely on her as much as he has, but he's not going to start questioning it now. "River," Simon says. "We need the water." He's not saying the things in his head that Mal knows are there. The things about how much he doesn't like the way his sister is the defacto co-leader of their tiny group.

"Zoe's by the river still," she says. Zoe, Zoe who had gone out on a water run with Jayne and Mal, left Kaylee, Simon and River at the farm. Zoe who had stepped in front of the man with the missing arm who staggered out of the field at the river and fired a burst at his midsection, got bit for her troubles.

They know three things now. Head shots only, people turn seconds after they're infected, the infected can break your leg with their bare hands. 

"I ain't goin' on a water run if Zoe's still out there," Jayne says and that's the end of that. Mal's not going anywhere with the leg Zoe broke tied up in a splint, and if Jayne isn't going, then no one is. Simon's lips are a thin pale line on his face.

Two Weeks Ago

"Jayne," Mal hisses. Jayne stares at him, face stubborn and angry.

"Kids, Mal," he says. "Gorram kids living in that house, all by themselves, ain't gonna let them die." 

"We don't know they're not already dead." Mal argues. He wishes Zoe were here, she'd take the right side though Mal's not's sure what the right side is these days. Jayne shoves his way past and gets to the house. There's a boy, sitting on the porch staring at nothing, he looks whole. Untainted. When he knocks Jayne down there's no human left in him and kids and dead folks come out of the woodwork. Mal stays hidden and sights Jayne down, Jayne's eyes are looking right at him but Jayne's not there anymore, already one of them. The bullet goes clean through. Then before the rest can come after him, Mal lights the whole town on fire.

When he gets back to the farm house Kaylee's gone. Simon's face is white, so's the rest of him. River's doing a thorough once over looking for bites but it's just busy work, Mal saw how fast Zoe and Jayne turned. He doesn't get as far as opening his mouth before River stares him to silence.

"Best not to ask," she says. "Time to go."

"Okay," Mal says and gathers up the weapons. River gets Simon to gather up the food but when it comes time to leave she can't get Simon to walk out of the house. Mal can see what River meant, cause the dead have cottoned on to the fact that the living are at the farm house. There's a steady line of 'em moving out of the trees. He turns to threaten Simon but he's too late, the sound of the gun shot sets the hoard outside to moaning and Simon's on the ground, neat hole between his eyes.

River doesn't meet his eyes. "Time to go," she says.

They aren't three feet away from the back door when the dead come through the front.

Now

“They’re coming,” River says. Mal winces at the scuffling sound coming from outside the shack they’ve set up for themselves. They had run for weeks to find this place. Covered in mud to hide their scent, days scouting for houses further and further away from the settlement. Nights in the trees, off the ground because the dead don't climb and are easy picking from up top.

“You gettin’ any kind of vibe on how many of them are coming this time?” he asks. He pulls Vera off the table, oiled to perfection.

“The minds are empty, the voices are many,” the girl says and stares at the boarded up window like she can see out of it. Hell, the girl probably can.

“So that’s a no then,” he says. She looks at him, serious eyes.

“That’s a no,” she says. There’s scratching on the door now and then it starts to rattle on its hinges. Mal wonders if the bar will hold until morning.

“We’re going to have to pack again.” River says. Mal takes that as sure fact that they’re going to live out the night.

/end


End file.
